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Physicist Creates Mini-Universe Generating Entropic Time

6/20/2026

Summary

Story summary

Physicist Giovanni Barontini (University of Birmingham) built a mini-universe that generates internal time from entropy exchange.
He cooled about 24,000 rubidium atoms to near absolute zero, creating a Bose-Einstein condensate.
A dipole optical trap split the condensate into bright and dark sectors, causing atoms to move and generate entropy flow that defines entropic time.
Published in Physical Review Research, the platform lets researchers probe quantum-gravity time without an external clock.

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Story summary

Physicist Giovanni Barontini (University of Birmingham) built a mini-universe that generates internal time from entropy exchange.
He cooled about 24,000 rubidium atoms to near absolute zero, creating a Bose-Einstein condensate.
A dipole optical trap split the condensate into bright and dark sectors, causing atoms to move and generate entropy flow that defines entropic time.
Published in Physical Review Research, the platform lets researchers probe quantum-gravity time without an external clock.